The Soul Nebula in Infrared from Herschel
More specifically, a
large star forming region called the Soul Nebula can be
found in the direction of the constellation
Cassiopeia, who Greek mythology credits as the vain wife of
a King who long ago ruled lands surrounding
the upper Nile river.
The Soul Nebula houses
several open clusters
of stars, a large radio source known as W5, and huge evacuated
bubbles formed by the winds of young massive stars.
Located about
6,500 light
years away, the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years and is
usually imaged next to its
celestial neighbor the Heart
Nebula (IC 1805).
The featured
image, impressively detailed, was taken last month in several bands
of infrared light by
the orbiting Herschel
Space Observatory.
Image Credit & License: ESA, Herschel Space Obs., NASA, JPL-Caltech
